This invention relates to a device for horizontally moving an apparatus or machine working at a high location such, for example, as a gondola. The device is intended to move such apparatus or machine not only vertically but also horizontally along a provisionally mounted horizontal rail.
For conducting work at a high location such as a construction or repair work on a structure at a high location, e.g., a building, ship, power plant, tank, chimney or bridge, safely and efficiently, apparatuses and machines such as gondolas and automatic working machines are increasingly used in lieu of the conventional method employing a scaffold.
When a gondola which is one of apparatuses used for conducting work at a high location is used for conducting a work on a building, for example, a pair of mounting frames are fixedly mounted to a parapet provided on the roof of the building and a gondola is hung from the mounting frames by means of a pair of wires suspended from these mounting frames, the gondola being moved up and down by operating a widing device mounted on the gondola.
The gondola is capable of performing work efficiently in the vertical direction of the building. It can however perform work in the horizontal direction of the building on an area outside of its width only within a range in which a workman can extend his arm. For performing work in the horizontal direction, therefore, the mounting frames for the gondola must be displaced horizontally along the parapet. For the displacement of the mounting frames, the gondola must be once lowered to the ground and be lifted to a desired location again. The number of times the mounting frames must be displaced on the parapet increases as the range of the work to be carried out horizontally increases with resulting drop in the working efficiency. The same is the case with other apparatuses and machines working at high locations.
For obviating such inconvenient displacement of the mounting frames, there is a prior art device according to which a running rail is permanently provided on the roof of a building for enabling a carrier for a gondola to run horizontally along the running rail and a gondola is suspended from the carrier. This device however necessitates the permanent provision of the running rail on the roof of the building and therefore is costly. Besides, an area on the roof is narrowed due to the provision of the running rail.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a device for horizontally moving an apparatus or machine working at a high location capable of horizontally moving such apparatus or machine with a safe and simple structure.